STORRS – Kevin Ollie likes to call the opposing team's top player "the ace of spades." For Furman, that would be Stephen Croone.

"Croone came back [from injury] and, man, he's an electrifying guard," Ollie said after UConn's practice Friday. "You've got to keep him out of the paint, he goes to the line at a very high rate. So we've got to contain him. It starts with our guards, then it's our big [men], going up vertical and not fouling."

Furman, from Greenville, S.C., comes to Gampel Pavilion Saturday at noon, to play UConn for the first time since 1991.

Croone, a 6-foot-1 senior, all-Southern Conference last season, missed the first two games of the season recovering from surgery to repair a torn ligament in his thumb. He returned Thursday night, coming off the bench to score 17 points in 23 minutes, hitting 11 of 13 free throws, in Furman's loss to Charlotte.

"Croone hasn't even really been in a live practice in over a month," Furman coach Niko Medved told the Greenville Times. "For him to do what he did in 23 minutes was pretty remarkable."

However, Furman lost the game, which was part of what one might call the "mainland" segment of the upcoming Battle4Atlantis. Furman plays Charlotte and UConn, two teams headed to the Bahamas next week, while Furman and other participants head to Elon College.

So this Furman game is essentially UConn's fourth Battle4Atlantis game. For the Huskies, it will be the last mid-major tuneup before things get real, starting Wednesday at Atlantis with a game against Michigan.

"We don't want any slipups," said Sterling Gibbs, UConn's leading scorer with 20.5 points per game. "We want to go to the Bahamas with a lot of confidence, clicking on all cylinders."

As a freshman last season, Hamilton had 93 assists, second only to Ryan Boatright. Two games into his sophomore year, his passing is an even more prominent feature...

The Huskies, coming off one-sided wins over Maine and New Hampshire, added a layer, the three-point game, to its arsenal in the last game, making 13 of 27. UConn is deep and versatile, though the caliber of its opponents lends itself to experimentation.

"New Hampshire did a good job getting back in zone and kept us out of transition a little bit," Ollie said. "And we kind of showed our versatility in shooting threes. We've shown all kinds of different ways, now we just want to put it together, whatever teams come up with we want to make adjustments and also make teams adjust to us."

Furman (2-1) hasn't played much zone. Ollie sees a 1-3-1 "that morphs into a 2-3." The next layer of offense that could make UConn better is heralded freshman Jalen Adams, who has played 31 minutes, going 3-for-8 from the floor.

"It's a process with him," Ollie said. "Having him not think, but just react and play. He's a great talent, he's going to have a breakout game soon. Don't want him to keep making same mistakes and stop and be passive. I want him to be aggressive, aggressive, aggressive. He's not struggling. But not playing to his capabilities. … Getting a steal, getting a dunk, getting a charge, making a great defensive stand, getting a rebound. It's not all about scoring to get you going. Get to the free-throw line. He's such an electrifying player, if he gets some touches, I like his chances, I like our chances."

Adams has cut down on turnovers from the exhibition games, a sign he said shows the game is slowing down for him.

"The first two games, I noticed I could be a really good point guard creating for others," Adams said. "But after creating for others I should look to attack. That could open up the floor for me, and for others. I'm not struggling, I'm just getting used to playing Div. I teams with this group of guys. I'm feeling my way out, but getting more and more comfortable."

On paper, Furman has a bigger team that Maine and New Hampshire, with Kendrec Ferrara, 6-9, Kris Acox, 6-6, and freshman Matt Rafferty, 6-8, all playing a lot the first three games. Still UConn, with its big men, should have an advantage. Amida Brimah has 12 blocked shots; Furman, as a team, has five.

"We've got to stay down and stay in our stance the whole 30 seconds [of each possession]," Ollie said.